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Airbnb has
operated in San
Francisco for six years now. But officially, it's done so
illegally – although widespread, short-term rentals are
prohibited in the city, as they are in many other cities across
the country.

It looks like that's finally going to change, in San Francisco,
at least. New legislation, which seeks to legalize and regulate
short-term rentals in the city and is scheduled to go into effect
in February 2015, just received initial approval from the San
Francisco Board of Supervisors, who voted 7 to 4 in favor of the
new law, the San Francisco Business Times
reports.

This vote of support comes after two years worth of efforts
from David Chiu, the board's president, to regulate short-term
rentals, which are popular with many residents but raise concerns
for the city, including reports of landlords evicting tenants in order to
convert apartments into hotel operations.

The new law aims to address some of these issues by introducing a
list of requirements for renters. Under the legislation, the
San Francisco Business Times reports, hosts must be
permanent residents of the city, register with the Planning
Department, and have at least $500,000 in liability insurance
coverage. More importantly, the law only permits hosts to rent
out their primary residences, i.e. the place they've occupied for
275 days out of the last year -- a stipulation meant to block
landlords from evicting tenants in order to rent out rooms on
Airbnb and, as Chiu wrote in a column, "take much-needed
housing off the market."

Airbnb pronounced the board's approval "a great victory." More
strident amendments had been proposed by board members, including
an annual cap on room rentals at 90 days.

A second vote on the ordinance is expected to take place in late
October, after which the law will go to the mayor's office to be
signed, according to the San Francisco Business Times.